Save Ari
by Embolalia
Summary: Chapter 7: Ziva realizes Israel is no longer an option. *A reimagining of Kill Ari through Ziva's eyes*
1. Chapter 1

**Save Ari**

Like many of you, I was appalled by the rewriting of canon that happened at the end of season 6 and the beginning of season 7 with regards to Ziva killing Ari in the episodes aptly titled "Kill Ari." On rewatching Kill Ari a couple months ago, I tried to reimagine the story from Ziva's POV with the new information. Here's what I came up with...

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**Chapter 1**

"Ziva?" Mordecai's eyes narrowed as she stared at him in shock. "Maybe it's not true. I shouldn't have told you."

She shook her head once. "I will deal with it. Thank you."

Her tone dismissed him simply, and Mordecai smiled as the younger agent reminded him of her father. "Shalom, Ziva." He slid out of the booth and left her alone to nurse her drink in the dim bar.

Ziva watched him walk out, then her eyes drifted to the glass between her hands as her attention turned to the news she'd just been given: a whisper had escaped from the Assistant Director's office that a death warrant had been signed for Ari Haswari.

She tapped the glass to the rhythm of the music as she thought. It was clearly a lie; her father could never order his own son's death. Mordecai or whoever had made up the lie didn't know of Ari's relationship to her, to their father. She and Ari were friends, that was publicly known, but it wasn't clear to Ziva what anyone could hope to gain from telling her was in danger. She frowned. Perhaps it was a warning.

Sighing, Ziva stood, glancing covertly around the bar as she stretched. There was only one person in this agency besides Ari whom she could trust unilaterally. Ziva left her glass half-full and headed back to headquarters.

xxx

It had been many, many years since Ziva was allowed to show weakness in her father's presence, but she took comfort nevertheless in the arm he wrapped around her shoulders, the perfunctory kiss on her cheek as she entered his inner office.

"What is it, daughter?" Eli David asked as he sat at his desk, leaving Ziva standing before it.

She sighed. "I have heard a disturbing rumor, Father."

His brow darkened. "Of what?"

Ziva felt the temptation to bite her lower lip, a childish habit that still came upon her when her father made her nervous. She suppressed it; he wouldn't like it. "That someone in Mossad has ordered Ari's death." Her father's sharp glance sent a wave of horror and nausea through Ziva before she could even begin to process what it meant.

He stood abruptly. "Come with me," Eli ordered, leading the way out of his office. Ziva followed silently as he dismissed his aide and led the way to his car.

"Father-"she began in the car, but Eli again waved her to silence.

As they drove through the quiet evening streets of Tel Aviv, Ziva felt chilled. Whatever her father was about to tell her, he was waiting until they were somewhere they could not be overheard. She wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but if Eli had known nothing of the rumors, he wouldn't be doing this.

"Come," Eli said sternly as the driver let them out at the David estate at the edge of the city. He led her to a circle of paving stones at the end of a path in the overgrown garden that had once been Ziva's mother's. Then he turned to Ziva, his expression suddenly regretful.

Ziva swallowed hard. "Is it true?" she asked simply, trying to keep emotion from her voice.

Eli sighed. "You see him as a brother, Ziva. But Ari's loyalty to our country has been compromised."

Her eyes flared in defense.

Her father shook his head once before Ziva could speak. "He is a liability, Ziva. I could only do what I would do with any other agent who turned traitor. It grieved me, but it had to be done." Eli turned and walked toward the house, leaving his daughter to stare after him in shock at the admission of emotion.

She sank down on the paving stones as the door slammed behind him, the deeper meaning of her father's words washing over her. The grass between the stones had grown up and tickled her ankles. Ziva thought back on the last times she had seen Ari: in Paris, in Jerusalem. He had been grieving himself, for the loss of his mother to an Israeli bomb, but Ziva remembered too how he'd cried with her when a Hamas attack had taken Tali's life. He'd fought for the opportunity to infiltrate the organization, to take down his sister's murderers. No, there was no way her brother's loyalty was now to Hamas.

Then a doubt crept into Ziva's heart. Ari might not be loyal to someone else, but there _was_ a chance he no longer wished to be part of Mossad. Agents who tried to leave tended to be assigned one last _dangerous_ mission by her father.

Ziva swallowed hard. There had to be a way to warn Ari, to protect him. He was the only sibling she had left.

The cool evening wind carried sand past her, raining it down over her hair. Ziva rose before she got buried and headed toward the house.

"Enter," Eli called out as her knuckles rapped against the door of his home office.

Ziva slipped inside.

He looked up, glancing over Ziva's expression as he tried to read her. Her mouth was tight, her jaw set. "You are angry?" he inquired sternly.

Her chin jerked once, up and down. "How could he betray us?" she snapped. She didn't miss the slight easing of her father's shoulders at her words.

"He was ruined by his mother's death," Eli answered with seeming regret. "It is a pity he has gone to such extremes in holding Israel responsible for the accident, but there can be no excuses made. He has shared our secrets with Hamas and it cannot be allowed."

Ziva shook her head as if furious. "Let me do it," she said angrily.

"Do what?" Eli David raised his eyebrows in surprise as he processed her meaning.

"They killed Tali," Ziva snapped. "And now he is working with them. I want to do it myself."

He frowned at her for a moment, then nodded once. "He is on a mission in the United States, undercover with Hamas. We will tell him you are his control officer. I will issue you your orders in the morning."

"Thank you, Father." Ziva stepped around the desk to kiss her father's cheek before leaving.

"Good night, Ziva," he called after her.

Trying to keep from shaking as she moved through the dark house, Ziva snatched Ari's keys from the pegboard by the back door and slipped into the garage.

Astride his motorcycle, she flew through the night back into the city, toward her apartment. Inside Ziva packed a bag, forcing her thoughts away from the man her father truly was. Instead she focused on the only thing that mattered: finding a way to save Ari.

xxx

Ziva had her orders the next day and called Ari at once. On the phone she knew better than to give anything away, though she couldn't help wondering if Ari's long pause after she told him she'd be his new control officer was meant to be a warning to _her_. He said nothing though, merely asked for the profiles he needed.

At the end of the conversation, Ari added one final comment: he wanted her, he said, to get him a back up plan in case the American agents who were already biased against him tried to blow his cover with Hamas. "I'll need a passport," he told her. " And some money."

Ziva smiled with relief. "Absolutely," she said. She was sure she knew what he really meant. After all, he was her brother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Save Ari**

In case it wasn't clear, this will go through both episodes, and maybe touch Silver War. I'm working on chapter 4 now; I started posting these mostly to force me to write. Hope you like!

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**Chapter 2**

Forty-eight hours later, Ziva relaxed slightly as she walked up the path of a house in Georgetown. She'd spent nearly every minute of the past two days finishing up the planning for her previous mission, an anti-terrorism op, while also doing the research Ari needed and sending it along. Just before she got on the plane in Tel Aviv, her father had called her into his office to tell her about Caitlin Todd's death.

"_If you fail, the Americans will not only kill him but break off friendly relations_."

Ziva, without flinching at the horrible lies her father was telling, had promised to carry out her orders without error.

Now she merely had to find a way to extract Ari without anyone figuring out her involvement. Ziva frowned at the magnitude of the task for a moment, then put on a smile and knocked.

An Hispanic woman opened the door and waved her inside.

"Ziva!" Jenny exclaimed from the doorway opposite her. "Welcome!"

Ziva smiled, stepped into her friend's hug.

"How are you? How was your flight?"

She shrugged it off. "Long. They are always long."

Jenny smiled sympathetically. "I know. But! I have some news. Put your bags down and come here." She nearly skipped on her way into what Ziva discovered was her office. Ziva smiled at her back. She'd seen this woman put on such a serious demeanor for work that it was still a surprise sometimes how lighthearted and playful she could be in private.

In the office, Jenny poured two glasses of bourbon.

Ziva raised an eyebrow. "What are we drinking to?"

Jenny grinned. "To the new director of NCIS!" She caught Ziva's startled look. "Me!"

Ziva hesitated, glass halfway to her mouth.

"Come on, Ziva." Jenny sighed wryly. "I don't have anyone in this town to celebrate with anymore. Let's drink."

Ziva nodded and clinked their glasses together, then downed her bourbon in one swallow. She sat down when Jenny gestured her into the living room, listened while Jenny rambled about the politics and pressures of her new job.

"Truth be told, I think I'm most nervous about seeing Jethro again," Jenny said after her fourth glass of bourbon.

Ziva refocused on the conversation. "Jethro Gibbs?"

Jenny blushed. "I know. He's still stationed in DC."

"You have not talked to him since-"

"Nope." Jenny shook her head, wincing. "You can meet him tomorrow, when you come watch the op from MTAC."

She nodded slightly. "That is not the only reason I am here, Jenny."

"No?" Jenny raised her eyebrows curiously.

Ziva took a deep breath. "My father sent me to be the control officer for a Mossad agent working here. In particular, to make sure he is not wrongly prosecuted for something he was not involved with." For years she had felt badly over the fact that Ari's undercover work meant she could not tell her friend about her brother. Now it was a relief that she didn't have to explain to Jenny how complicated things were.

Jenny's forehead creased. "What's he accused of?"

Ziva sighed. "The death of Caitlin Todd. One of Gibbs' agents."

Her friend gasped.

"Ari is ours," Ziva said pointedly. "I know for a fact he felt affection for Agent Todd. Someone killed her and it is a tragedy for which that person should be brought to justice, but it was not Ari." She could already see the doubt in Jenny's eyes and it worried her. Worried her more. There was plenty in her research that she knew would make Jenny turn against Ari, most importantly that he'd shot Gibbs, the lover Ziva had heard about more than a few times as she and Jenny traversed Europe. Jenny would find out soon enough, but Ziva had to keep the American on her side as long as possible.

Jenny nodded slowly, then tried for diplomacy. "I hope you're right Ziva, but we don't always know other people as well as we think we do."

Ziva flinched, thinking of her father, of the orders she carried. As she stared across the room, her eyes came to rest on a photograph of Jenny and her father, and even as her stomach sank in guilt, Ziva knew what she had to do. "He is my brother, Jenny."

Her friend's eyes widened in surprise.

"I have not mentioned him before because of his undercover work in Hamas—no one is allowed to know we have a mole there, though your CIA knows now." She smiled, sincere for a moment. "I know you never had a big brother, but...it is like at once a father and a friend, in different ways. I imagine different brothers are different. I adored Ari as a child. Like you and your father." She met Jenny's eyes, letting her worry show. She knew she was manipulating Jenny, but this was who she was trained to be, and she'd use anything she could to save her brother.

Jenny nodded, accepting Ziva at her word. "Why does Gibbs blame him, then?"

Ziva shrugged. "While undercover in Hamas he crossed paths with Gibbs before—before Gibbs knew Ari was truly Mossad. It seems Ari was too good at his role and Gibbs is still certain Ari is working against him."

Jenny's eyes narrowed. "He's a very good agent, Ziva."

She nodded once. "I am sure that he is. But so is Ari."

The director sighed. "Well, I promise we'll investigate all the possibilities. I...I know what it's like to have the ones you love accused of crimes they didn't commit."

Ziva smiled, letting a hint of confusion creep into her eyes—enough to suggest she hadn't researched Jenny's father, didn't know exactly what Jenny was remembering. "I appreciate it," she answered formally.

Jenny stood. "Let's get to bed!" she pronounced. "Work starts tomorrow!"

As her friend led the way out of the living room, Ziva glanced out the window for a moment into the night, wondering where Ari was hiding in this foreign city.

"Hey," Jenny called from the doorway. "Stop worrying. He'll be fine."

Ziva smiled tightly, and followed her upstairs.

xxx

In the guest bedroom, curled up in bed, Ziva found she couldn't sleep. Though she'd been awake for nearly twenty-four hours, she wanted to run, had too much nervous energy. She couldn't stop worrying that telling Jenny about her relationship with Ari had been a mistake. There were so many secrets to keep. It was too bad, for her purposes, that Jenny had been promoted. As an agent, an equal, Ziva might have been able to ask for her help in getting Ari to safely. Even now, the desire to do so pulled at Ziva, urging her out of bed. She fought it.

Her deeper fear, she couldn't fight. She didn't even know how to address it. What would her father do when she told him either that she had completed the assignment but had no proof or that Ari had eluded her despite her best efforts? Would she, too, be labeled a traitor and eliminated? For a moment Ziva envied Jenny that her father was dead, that Jenny could be loyal to a memory without ever having to know that her father wasn't who she'd thought.  
Ziva rolled over, clamping her eyes shut. If she could find a way to meet with Ari tomorrow, perhaps he'd have the answer. The thought eased her mind. When she was a girl, he'd always helped her cover up her troubles, her teenage misdemeanors. She had his back now; surely Ari would still have hers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Save Ari**

Thanks to those of you who've reviewed so far!**  
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****Chapter 3**

Ziva spent the next morning meeting with Yael ben Itzak, Ari's previous control officer. The woman assured her that the only one Ari had killed was a Hamas assassin, and that only to prove his true loyalties to Caitlin Todd. But she didn't know exactly where he was. Yael handed over the files she'd accumulated and the satellite phone Ari would use to make contact and gladly ceded control. Ziva didn't stop to wonder why.

It was nearly noon before Ziva made her way to NCIS, and she asked not for Jenny but for Gibbs. It would help to have an impression of him before he learned who she was. Instead she ended up at the desk of a man she recognized at once from the photo in the dossier she'd put together: Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

Ziva stood a few feet away, looking him over, and her eyebrows arched as she caught what he was saying. The panic in his eyes when he realized she was paying attention gave Ziva the first moment's distraction in days. She teased him lightly, playing out the information she had on him. It turned out Tony DiNozzo gave nearly as well as he got.

When Jenny finally emerged from the elevator, Gibbs was with her. Ziva frowned for a fraction of a second. They already seemed close again, reconnected in some way. Their trust restored. But Gibbs was Ziva's opponent, at least for the moment. She straightened and crossed to kiss Jenny's cheeks, making sure to make contact, staking her claim in a way the man would surely understand- consciously or not.

Jenny filled her in on the op, then added sternly, "We have to talk about this Ari situation."

Ziva didn't betray the sudden clenching of her stomach. She had a role to play. She made it through the introductions deftly enough, even tossing a veiled comment and a knowing twinkle at Gibbs to let him know she was close enough to Jenny to hear her stories.

The new director's hand had just taken her elbow to lead her off for the promised conversation when Ziva tensed at a sudden buzzing from her backpack. She pulled away and drew out the sat phone, crossing eagerly to the windows.

She murmured a greeting to Ari, fighting to keep her tone cool in the face of the sudden relief that came with hearing his voice.

"Were you able to get the things I asked for?" Ari asked quickly.

Ziva turned her face to the window so no one could read her expressions, then did her best to reassure Ari she'd been successful and to warn him about Gibbs. And then she added the only thing she wanted to say: "I want to see you." Just in case, her heart pleaded. In case once you've escaped his clutches, you're gone forever.

"Too risky," Ari said brusquely. "Gibbs will have you followed. We'll meet in Paris after the mission is over. I promise."

"Ari, I don't want to lose you too," Ziva murmured.

"You won't. Shalom."

He was gone before she could wish him peace as well.

When she returned to the group, Jenny led her upstairs, lectured her thoroughly on Gibbs' reasons for suspecting Ari. Ziva refuted them like the lies they were.

xxx

True to Ari's words, Ziva caught sight of a car following her a few blocks out of the navy yard. Ziva grinned as she glimpsed DiNozzo in her rear-view mirror, then smirked as she darted around a corner. It was time to find out just how good the Americans were. This one, anyway.

While she led DiNozzo around the city, Ziva made a quick call on her cellphone to tell Yael to hold off flying out of DC until the drop was complete. The other woman hesitated, then agreed. As the evening began to grow dark with rainclouds, Ziva pulled up abruptly in front of the Embassario and left her car with the valet. Abandoning her tail, she headed up to the room number Yael had given her earlier.

Nestled on the bed was an envelope, two Hebrew characters on the front: her name. Ziva tore it open, pulled out Ari's letter. She sat down to read it.

_Ziva,_

_I cannot trust that Yael won't read this, so there are things I cannot say. There is a man you and I both trusted who has not lived up to that trust. I hope you will understand that if I must go away it is only him I wish to leave. Remember that day in the woods? I wish we could have lived there forever. -Ari_

Ziva's breath caught as she read it over. It was veiled but clear that Ari was leaving, running away. She smiled as she reached the end. That day in the woods, he wrote. There was only one he could mean. They'd been children, fifteen and eleven—Tali was seven or eight. Eli had left them in the woods for one of his character-building exercises, and Tali had decided they should play a game: that they were orphans living in the woods, like in some book she'd read. So they had. Tali picked dates and Ari gathered branches to build a fort; Ziva lined it with moss and scavenged for nuts. They slept there together that night, curled up, making no efforts to escape as their father had intended.

Eli had woken them at dawn, furious they'd betrayed their objective, but none of the children had weakened before his wrath. Somehow just pretending he was gone had lessened his power. Eli never understood why.

"Me too," Ziva whispered to herself. "I wish it, too." She read it one more time, then tore the letter to shreds, burnt it in the porcelain sink.

Slipping on the bathing suit Yael had set out and gathering the passport and money she'd brought for Ari, Ziva headed to the pool.


	4. Chapter 4

**Save Ari**

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**Chapter 4**

Ziva didn't miss Tony watching her from outside the pool area, but to his credit it took her a few minutes to notice him. Once she was showered and dressed, she decided to reward him with a coffee.

Banter came naturally to Agent DiNozzo, and Ziva slipped into it easily. She taunted him with her sexuality, a trick she'd found worked on men like him in nearly any culture. But she found she sympathized with the loss he hid behind his jokes, the loss of a woman who was his partner and his friend. Without warning, her story was on the tip of her tongue—how she was trying to avoid a similar pain. She knew better than to let it out, but told another story instead, surprising even herself.

"My sister Tali was killed in a Hamas suicide bombing. She was sixteen and the best of us." A shudder ran through Ziva as she mentioned it, even after all these years. But she told him because she could not face that pain again, and the fear that she might have to was propelling her through these days. She told him because if it all unraveled, if she had to kill Gibbs and lose Jenny's friendship and face the consequences, one person would have this one clue why.

So much in her life, in her career, had been a consequence of Tali's death. Of all of it, protecting Ari's life seemed the one good thing.

Remembering Tali brought an old longing for Ari's comfort, and Ziva found the banter suddenly less distracting. After stealing a slice of pizza from DiNozzo, she bade him goodnight.

Inside, though, the hotel room felt like simply another trap. Ziva's eyes lingered on the sink where she burned Ari's letter. She recited it to herself—had she forgotten any of his words already? She spent a few minutes sitting staring at the satellite phone, hoping he'd call. He didn't.

xxx

After nearly an hour in the stifling room, Ziva's cell phone rang, startling her off the bed.

"Can you come over here?" Jenny was terse. "My house."

Ziva agreed and hung up, then headed out the hotel's back entrance in case Tony was still tailing her. She wasn't sure whether he'd been called off or not, but Ziva had a talent for discretion.

This time when Ziva knocked at the door, the second in as many days, Jenny opened it herself. Her hair was mussed, and there was a bloodstain on her shirt.

"What happened?" Ziva demanded at once, her brow darkening in concern.

Jenny peeked out into the night over Ziva's shoulder, then ushered her inside. When she saw Ziva's gaze still lingering on her blouse, Jenny looked down and frowned. "Come on." She darted up the stairs to her bathroom, wiped at the stain, a little too frantically. Her hands were shaking slightly. She shrugged at Ziva. "You learn how to keep going, but realizing later you've been shot at-"

Ziva's eyebrows flew up. "Who shot at you?"

Jenny's hands stilled as the question distracted her from her agitation. "Gibbs and I were doing some surveillance. We caught up to the van that was seen at the site of Kate's shooting."

Ziva waited, tense.

"The driver started shooting at us and we shot back. Killed him. He wasn't anyone we recognized, though. Gibbs says they'll get an identification by morning."

The rushing in her ears faded and Ziva could think again. "So that is who killed Kate, then?"

Jenny pursed her lips. "It's certainly possible."

"But Gibbs doesn't think so." Ziva saw Jenny's conflict clearly: which partner should she trust?

"Let's wait until we get the scene analyzed," Jenny said, cutting off the conversation. Then she looked at Ziva curiously. "Where did you go all day?"

Ziva smirked. "Gibbs set Agent DiNozzo to follow me."

Jenny grinned. "Remember in Cairo?" Both women laughed at the thought. "You eluded him?"

The younger woman shrugged. "I like to think I entertained us both."

Cocking her head as she gave up on saving her blouse and began to unbutton it, Jenny asked, "What do you think of him?" She caught her friend's look of surprise. "He's one of my agents, now. I don't really know many of them."

Ziva's smile faded as she thought. "I got to speak to him, this morning and this evening..." Now she frowned. "On the surface, he is very silly. But to talk to-" She paused, not sure how to explain even to herself all that she'd disclosed. "I ended up telling him about Tali."

Jenny looked shocked. "You've barely even mentioned her to me."

She shrugged, uncomfortable. "It is like with your father. Some things are just too painful."

"But DiNozzo got you talking?" Now Jenny was pensive. "He is one of Gibbs' agents, I guess." She led the way into her bedroom as she shrugged off her shirt and pulled on the nightgown that was still draped over her bed.

Ziva sighed softly. She could hardly explain the mental place she was in.

"You're worried about your brother," Jenny said softly as she turned and glimpsed the tension in her friend's face.

For a moment, Ziva's heart pounded until she remembered telling Jenny this secret the night before. "Yes," she forced out.

Jenny sighed as she kicked her pants off and threw them toward the hamper. She hesitated, then drew Ziva into an awkward hug. Even as partners they'd never shared this sort of closeness, and it worried more than comforted Ziva that Jenny was offering it now.

"We'll get this sorted out tomorrow," Jenny said after a minute, and pulled away.

Ziva nodded, hearing the subtext of Jenny's words: that things might not work out in Ari's favor. "Good night, then," she replied, more brusquely than she meant to.

Jenny nodded good night as Ziva slipped out.

xxx

Laying down to sleep in the guest room, Ziva could feel the exhaustion of the day seeping through all her tension and worry. Jenny's house lacked no luxury, and the sheets were softer even that at Yael's hotel.

A few thoughts still kept her awake. She wasn't sure who could have sent the sniper after Gibbs and Jenny, a sniper with Ari's gun and Ari's car. It felt like a Mossad move, like something Ari had taken care of, but she couldn't think why. Was it all misdirection so he could escape? And if it was, had he knowingly sent the man to die? Was it Kate's real killer, someone in Hamas, that Ari had sent to meet justice? It seemed the most likely thing. Until she heard otherwise, Ziva chose to believe it. Suspicion had been deflected enough, she hoped. If Yael could just get him the passport in time, Ari would be able to sneak out of the country without any agencies trying to find him. Ziva couldn't suppress a small smile as she closed her eyes. She'd still have to figure out her story, but it seemed her brother would survive.


	5. Chapter 5

**Save Ari**

Have you all seen Kill Ari lately? Watching the scene with Gibbs and Ziva in the lab got to me so much more this time. Whether she's been ordered to kill him or not, when Gibbs explains about the Kate rifle, you can practically see her suddenly believe him. Heart breaking. Sometimes Cote de Pablo is really amazing. Let me know what you think of this...**  
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**Chapter 5**

Ziva was up at the crack of dawn, and smiled as she descended to the kitchen to find Jenny already brewing coffee. They ate breakfast quickly and without speaking, both enjoying the easy familiarity they'd built across several continents.

At NCIS Jenny quickly reviewed the data Gibbs' forensic specialist had gathered on the car and the gun from the night before, and when she finished, she looked up at Ziva with a smile. Ziva relaxed even before she spoke. "It looks like there's no good evidence Ari was involved in Kate's death."

Ziva nodded, smiling.

"Let's go tell the team."

In the bullpen, Ziva watched as Jenny dispensed the news and dismissed Gibbs' team, then Ziva too. As she got herself a cup of tea from the break room, giving Jenny time to speak to Gibbs, Ziva hummed to herself. She would see Ari in Paris in a week, one way or another.

Ziva frowned when she returned to Gibbs' area. All the team members were gone, including Gibbs. Her gaze lifted slowly to the catwalk, where Jenny was watching her. The other woman's eyes were filled with guilt and Ziva felt like she'd been sucker punched. It seemed she'd given in to hope much too soon.

Lacking other direction, she waited around, trading barbs with Agent DiNozzo when he eventually returned and getting a sense of the working dynamics of NCIS. She wasn't spying, exactly, but it didn't hurt to look.

An hour later, without warning, Jenny leaned over the railing and called down: Deputy Director David in MTAC. Ziva felt dazed as she climbed the stairs, greeted Jenny and Gibbs perfunctorily.

In MTAC she was faced with her father's enormous visage on the screen. For a moment Ziva though of the wizard in _The Wizard of Oz_. Except her father really could do almost anything. Ziva turned to Jenny, murmuring. "Could we have privacy please?"

The technicians looked to Jenny for instructions.

"Sure." She herded them out. "There won't be a recording."

Ziva looked up at her father, fear making her suddenly queasy. She'd almost forgotten the role she was still playing: unquestioning Mossad agent, fratricide-in-training.

"Shalom, Ziva," Eli said after a moment.

"Shalom," she answered crisply, a lifetime of training paying off.

"The director there called to tell me she has reason to believe Ari was involved in the death of the American agent."

Ziva nodded jerkily. "They have only circumstantial evidence, but her agents believe in it."

Eli shrugged. "Perhaps they'll do your work for you. I made clear to the director that if it must be done to save lives, Israel will not create problems for her."

She smiled, trying to seem sincere. Surely the static of the video monitors worked in her favor. "He is a traitor either way. Do not worry; I will follow orders."

Her father nodded with a certain—what?-pleasure, it seemed, at the way she obeyed. He dismissed her with a nod and his face disappeared.

Ziva took a shuddering breath, stood still for a few seconds while she still had the room to herself. For the first time it occurred to her that perhaps she had better run too, while she still could.

Jenny entered alone after a moment, sorrow in her eyes. "He's gone?"

Ziva nodded.

"I'm sorry, for what it's worth," Jenny murmured, coming up to Ziva. "Gibbs had new reasoning—I'm not sure how this will end, but we have to pursue it further. We called your father to find out what his official word is on Ari."

Ziva's heart beat hard. "Did you tell him you knew about our relationship-"

"Of course not," Jenny cut her off. Her eyes softened. "He gave us the details of what Ari should be doing now for Hamas so we could find him. And—he said he had no problem with us taking whatever measures were necessary."

Closing her eyes, Ziva put on her mask of emotional blankness. She could not allow herself to process this right now. She opened them, devoid of affect. "He is the director."

Jenny looked at her long and carefully enough to be sure Ziva was simply protecting herself, then nodded once. "Fine. Gibbs could use our help downstairs. And Ziva, you may not seem to have the same goal, but all he wants is the truth."

They took the elevator to the lab in silence. Ziva could feel Jenny's guilt but dismissed it.

In the lab, Ziva made a play for power, revealing her knowledge of Gibbs' history. She needed to see his reactions in order to gauge how he'd handle whatever came next.

Gibbs dismissed the others, his posture turning predatory, and stalked to her blind spot. Ziva rested her hands on her hips. His interrogation would be the easiest thing she'd faced this week.

He called her attention to his first wife and daughter and she turned to meet his eyes. "Then we know what he's shooting at women, don't we?" Gibbs asked softly.

Something tensed inside her, even as Ziva began speaking. The best way to get to this man would be through his women. Ari would have the same instinct. She tried to dismiss it.

But then there was the Kate rifle. Whatever had tensed now snapped, and Ziva turned away, pacing, her mind reeling. He'd always loved irony, loved puns—this was exactly the sort of thing her brother would do. But not kill someone! Yet Ziva was flooded by a tide of sudden uncertainty.

She turned back to Gibbs but did not meet his eyes. "I still don't believe Ari is the sniper." Her words had begun to sound desperate. "But what you've said should be investigated."

And then Gibbs said the words that would change their lives: "If I'm wrong then he won't show up."

"And if you're right?" Ziva asked, her first instinct still to rush to her brother's defense.

"Then I'm counting on you to back me up."

Ziva clenched her jaw and nodded once, hard. "Done."

Gibbs returned the nod, sealing a deal. "Can you reach him?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"Let him know I'm planning to be at the site of Kate's death to lay flowers, this evening at six. We'll give him the chance to decide. If he's really coming after me, we'll catch him trying."

Ziva agreed, but her mind felt clouded. There was a chance Ari had killed Kate, and suddenly every single relationship in her life was called into question. She felt like she couldn't breathe deeply enough. What if he'd done it but didn't show up? Did she then still owe it to the world to kill him, to follow orders she'd never imagined actually carrying out? Was her father in the right? The world spun.

"Call him now," Gibbs ordered, and Ziva nodded, taking her backpack with her and leaving the lab, pushing silently through the crowd outside. She made it to the end of the hall and sat down on a bench, took out the sat phone.

She was not the sort to pray, but as she held the phone Ziva wished as hard as she could for the world to go on being as she'd always believed it to be.

Ari answered on the third ring.

"Shalom," Ziva greeted him.

"Shalom, sister," he said, so sweetly.

Ziva squeezed her eyes closed. "They are still suspicious of you, so the best thing would be for you to leave as soon as you can."

"I will," he promised.

"I think their suspicions are mostly driven by grief," Ziva continued. "They are all mourning Kate Todd, Gibbs in particular. He even mentioned he is planning to decorate the site of her death with flowers this evening after work."

Ari didn't answer for a moment. "She was a very lovely woman," he finally said sadly. "I would go too, if I could, to offer my sympathies. You would have liked her, Ziva." She could tell from his voice that he was emotional, and she felt her own eyes water. "She liked to tease, was very intense about her work. Sexy." He started to laugh, then choked on it. "Send my condolences if you can, Ziva."

"Alright," Ziva managed to say. She wiped frantically at her eye, not sure why she would cry over this. It was only one woman's life that was gone. Well, two—Kate's and her own.

"I need to finish making arrangements for the plane," Ari said quickly, a strange brusqueness in his voice given the emotion he'd just shown. "I'll see you soon."

"It's a trap!" she spat out at the last moment. "He asked me to cover him in case you show up."

There was a long pause on the line. "You don't have anything to worry about," Ari finally said. "I'll see you in Paris."

"Shalom," Ziva whispered. Peace.

"Shalom, Ziva." Ari hung up.

Ziva crossed the hall to the bathroom, made sure there was no trace of emotion on her face when she returned to the lab, to Gibbs.

The others had regathered, but Gibbs shooed them away and took the elevator up with only Ziva. He stopped it between the floors.

"What?" Ziva asked nervously as Gibbs circled her.

"Look." He stopped in front of her. "Whatever else you or I may think of him, Ari is smart."

"Yes."

"He won't come after me on a rooftop, when there's even a chance it's a set-up."

Ziva frowned. "Then why-"

"Me being there gives him a window to set up in my house. If he really is coming after me, that's where it'll be."

She met his eyes, defiant. "Then that is where we will be. One way or another Gibbs, I want as badly as you do to be certain of the truth."


	6. Chapter 6

**Save Ari**

So, Ziva doesn't actually sing the Mourner's Kaddish in this scene, which is the Jewish prayer for the dead. Not knowing what it was she is singing, I put my own spin on it, as you'll see.

Disclaimer: Dialogue is from Kill Ari, obvs.

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**Chapter 6**

Ziva crouched in the dark of the walk-in pantry, motes of dust floating past her undisturbed except by her shallow breathing. Gibbs had called to report that Ari had not come to the scene of Kate's death, but Ziva had very little hope left in her.

The front door creaked very slightly and Ziva froze. There was a narrow crack between the pantry door and its frame and she could make out a shadowy figure. He didn't turn on the lights as he headed for the basement stairs. In the mind Ziva could hear what she'd written in the dossier on Gibbs: _Currently unmarried, spends time on carpentry projects in his basement. Drinks bourbon_. They were details she'd gotten from Jenny over the years, details Ari was about to use to kill Gibbs.

Whatever Gibbs might think later, that was the moment that Ziva decided Ari's fate. She thought, for a split second, of calling out to him. He would run away and leave Gibbs alone, surely, if she asked? Instead Ziva stayed silent, listening. She heard the drawer Gibbs had shown her slide open and the click of a safety being disengaged. Then nothing. Ziva straightened and soundlessly opened the pantry door far enough to signal to anyone entering the house. When Gibbs came in a little while later, she waved for his attention, then gestured to the basement door.

"He has your gun out," she breathed.

Gibbs nodded and skipped down the steps, Kate's flowers still in hand. Ziva's heart caught in her throat—if it were her, on a standard op, she'd shoot him before he made it to the bottom.

But then she heard Ari begin to speak to Gibbs downstairs. Ziva slid onto her stomach on the landing at the top of the steps. She couldn't see into the basement from here, but she and Gibbs had worked out the angles earlier. If Gibbs got him in place, she'd be able to shoot.

"I wish I hadn't had to shoot Caitlyn," she caught Ari saying. Ziva stifled a sigh.

"Why did you?" Gibbs asked.

"To cause you pain."

"I piss you off that much?"

"Not you. My father. You have the misfortune of reminding me of the bastard." Ziva winced. At least she understood the root of his actions.

"Aha. He didn't marry your mother, huh?" Now she rolled her eyes. Ari couldn't be provoked like a madman. Then again, though...

"That's what makes be a bastard," Ari answered calmly. "Not him. From the moment of my birth he groomed me to be one thing: his mole in Hamas. He sent me to Edinborough to become a doctor, so I could work in the Gaza camps alongside my mother. When he had her killed-"

Ziva gasped, nearly aloud, her mind reeling. Could it be true?

Gibbs seemed to have asked.

"It was a retaliatory Israeli strike," Ari said. "On a day I was in Tel Aviv, visiting him. After decades of planning, he had his mole in Hamas. He never knew how much I hated him. I wish I could see his face when he realizes he created not a mole but a monster—eager to strike at the heart of Mossad and Israel." So that was who her father was. She was relieved to find she hadn't been wrong about every single thing.

"Yeah, I almost feel sorry for you." Ziva was surprised to hear the honesty in Gibbs' voice.

"And I for you."

Footsteps sounded suddenly, as the men moved, and Ziva took a quick peek to confirm that Gibbs was lining up the shot for her.

Ari spoke again. "When Ziva told me you were placing flowers on the roof where Caitlyn died, I couldn't believe it. Such a romantic touch. Almost too good to pass up. Almost." It ached now, to hear Ari say her name. Ziva readied her gun, set up the shot. Her hands trembled very faintly, doubting that she could really do this.

"And why did you?" Gibbs asked below.

"I need you to commit suicide with your own rifle," Ari sneered. "You never did give me enough credit for our game. I knew it was a trap before Ziva told me you asked her to cover you. You'd never trust Ziva. And you need to kill me, taste the sweetness of revenge." His tone steadied her hand. This was not her brother.

Gibbs stepped back and sat, held up a hand as Ari's footsteps approached the stairs. Ziva could see the back of Gibbs' head now, and she ducked down just enough to aim. "I've killed enough men in my life, Ari," Gibbs said, without malice. "It's gonna be just as sweet watching you die." He lifted his hands in the signal.

"Sorry to spoil your-"

And then she did it. Against all logic, against all love, she pulled the trigger.

She couldn't see, but she heard the sound of his body hitting the concrete, the back of his head bouncing once. Ziva had become inured to the snaps and crunches and squishes that a human body could make under torture over the years, but the smack of Ari's head on the floor sickened her.

Gibbs looked up at her as she walked down the stairs. The gun was loose in her hand, already forgotten, but there was a faint smile on Gibbs' face and for a moment she hated him, wanted to shoot him, too.

She gazed past him then, and all thought of Gibbs was gone. Ari lay on the cold floor, his face relaxed, so familiar, pillowed in a puddle of red.

"His father is a deputy director in Mossad?" Gibbs asked softly behind her as she reached the body.

"Yes." The answer came of its own volition.

"Not David," he said. The concern in his voice reassured Ziva about him—Jenny had not told him Ari was her brother; Gibbs had not known what he was asking.

"Yes." There were already tears on her cheeks as she nodded. "He's my half brother."

As he moved past her, Gibbs squeezed her thumb, an attempt at comfort for a pain she had only begun to feel. Ziva distantly heard him climb the stairs and leave but couldn't process it. All she could see were Ari's clouding eyes.

She thought suddenly, without any cause, of being lost in an airport when she was a little girl. They had been in Paris, before she could speak French. She was frantic until, though the walls of the crowd, her big brother was grinning and waving to her. She'd flown to his arms.

Another tear streaked down her cheek.

Ziva opened her mouth to sing the mourner's kaddish, but the words froze in her throat. Ari had given up on Israel. She sighed, took a deep breath, then began again in Arabic. He had sung this for his mother. Now she would sing for him.

xxx

A long time later, or that was how it seemed, a hand touched her shoulder.

Ziva turned in surprise to find Jenny standing above her. She rose.

"I..." Jenny trailed off, staring at her friend's distraught face, her friend who usually hid everything. "I'm sorry." When Ziva didn't react, she went on. "Would you come upstairs? We need to talk about what to do."

Ziva nodded faintly, allowed Jenny's arm around her shoulder to turn her away from her brother's cooling body and lead her.

Stepping into the bright kitchen was a shock. Ziva looked around in surprise as if she'd never seen it before, as if the tour Gibbs had given her earlier had happened to someone else.

"Ziva."

His voice, rich with sorrow, forced her to meet Gibbs' eyes. In that moment, that connection, everything was real again, painfully real: the responsibility and ramifications came rushing in and Ziva took a shuddering breath as she came back to her life. She closed her eyes, shoved all the emotion away.

"Will you tell everyone what he was?" she asked, opening her eyes again and looking back and forth between Gibbs and Jenny.

Jenny exhaled softly, relieved by Ziva's response. She nudged Ziva toward a chair and sat across from her. "No. Your father seemed to think this would be better kept quiet. We've decided," she said, glancing toward Gibbs, "that it will be better for everyone if we tell him it was Gibbs who fired the kill shot."

Ziva stared at her, confused, before she remembered that they didn't know about her orders. She thought of telling them, but couldn't find the words. And besides, this wasn't exactly what she'd been ordered to do. "Alright," she said softly.

"I'll call and tell Tel Aviv in the morning," Jenny continued. "In the meantime, we called our medical examiner and he'll be over in a little while to prepare...Ari...for transport back to Israel."

Ziva nodded.

Jenny reached over and squeezed her hand. "Why don't you come home with me now? You don't need to see this." She made Ziva meet her eyes. The younger woman nodded again, then stood while the others moved around her, exchanging glances she couldn't process. Then she was leaving, in the car, back in Jenny's house. Everything was whirling past her.

xxx

Inside, a while later, a cup of tea on the living room table in front of her, Jenny laid a hand on Ziva's arm.

"I'm sorry he wasn't who you thought," she said softly.

From wherever she'd hidden it, the emotion came rushing back. Ziva started to cry, sobbing, uncontrolled emotion bursting forth like she hadn't experienced since Tali died.

Jenny wrapped her arms around her friend, anchoring her, letting her cry.

Ziva was startled herself by the tears, but didn't try to hold them in. When she got home, she could show no sign of grief. Not for a traitor. Jenny at least understood how complicated it could be to love someone.

A while later, in the middle of a sob, a thought occurred to Ziva and pulled her up short. She caught her breath, tears halting, and scrubbed at her cheeks with the sleeves of her shirt. She looked sharply at Jenny. "He went after Gibbs because he wanted to hurt someone like my father." Her throat ached from crying but she forced the words out.

Jenny nodded. "Gibbs told me."

Ziva shook her head. "So he targeted Gibbs' women. But he wanted to hurt my father. Do you think—would he have hurt me?"

Jenny's eyes widened. "I don't know."

"And he left me a note the other day, it was so sweet-" Her eyes were wide, fearful. "He had already killed Kate. Betrayed us all." Only now, all at once, did the knowledge of Ari's betrayal seem real, and there were years of her life to reevaluate. She was stricken to new depths, but there were no tears left. If Ari could really commit all the acts Gibbs had accused him of, it was not really a brother she had lost. At least not today.

She said goodnight to Jenny abruptly, rising to go to bed. Her friend didn't understand the shift, but Ziva didn't explain it. As she fell asleep she swore she wouldn't cry for him again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Save Ari**

Sorry for the delay, I got a cold that kept me in a daze all week. If you guys got a chance to check out my piece called "Two Strangers," it's a possible TIVA interlude here between chapters 6 and 7, but it's so completely AU that I didn't put it in. Now that this is finished, I hereby declare that this is what actually happened. I've worked in all the nonsense he's come up with so far, and Shane Brennan better not come up with any more, because I'm not rewriting this again!

Here's hoping the premiere on Tuesday lives up to what we know NCIS is capable of!

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**Chapter 7**

Ziva's eyes were closed but she was not asleep. Instead she was bracing herself for what was about to happen: in ten minutes, the plane would land and she would step out of it a Mossad officer who had successfully completed her mission. Who was returning jubilant from taking out a traitor.

For a moment Ziva conjured up that feeling, and it wasn't entirely false. She did take a certain vindictive pleasure in knowing that she had ferreted out the secrets of her brother and father, had held one of them accountable for his crimes. Ziva could only hold on to the feeling for an instant, though, before it was superseded by all the others: shame that she was blind for so long, regret that she could not save Ari long ago and that it came to this, aching loneliness because there was no one left she could trust the way she trusted them—and she wasn't sure she could trust anyone again if she tried.

Ziva forced her eyes open as the pilot announced their descent. It didn't matter what she felt right now, it was more important than ever that she play the part she was assigned. There was no doubt in her mind that her father's scrupulousness could extend to her under the right circumstances. She would have to be glad Ari was dead.

xxx

When she stepped out of the plane twenty minutes later, Ziva nodded, smiling faintly, to Hadar. He grinned widely in response and kissed her cheek.

"Come, your father wants to see you," he said firmly, and gestured to the van waiting on the tarmac.

Ziva rounded it and hopped up into the passenger seat, watching in the side mirror as several men loaded the casket from the belly of the plane into the back of the van.

When he finally joined her, slipping the keys into the ignition and taking off toward Mossad headquarters in central Tel Aviv, Hadar spoke again. "You and Ari were always very close," he said with seeming gentleness.

Her eyes darted toward him. This was a test. "As children, perhaps," Ziva answered mildly. "I found we barely knew each other as adults."

"Even so," Hadar offered, "it must have been a hard mission for you to accept."

Ziva looked him over, wondering how he could have ever gone undercover when the meaning behind his words was so transparent. "No," she said firmly. "I volunteered. Some things you cannot accept unless you see them for yourself."

"And you did?" he pressed, turning briefly toward her.

Ziva raised her eyebrows as if insulted by his questioning. "Do you think I couldn't have protected him if I'd wanted to?" She looked away, dismissing the topic as she stared out the window. "Yes. I saw what he was and I was glad to deal with it myself." A chill ran though her that she hoped Hadar couldn't detect. She wasn't lying; it would have been far worse if some other agent had killed Ari and she'd had to grieve him without ever knowing the truth of what he was.

They drove the rest of the way in silence, and even when they arrived and Hadar led Ziva inside, neither spoke. Hopefully he thought she was silent because she was insulted. In truth she had used up nearly all of her energy for this sort of maneuvering.

As they stepped into her father's office, Eli greeted Ziva warmly. Then his eyes flickered past her to Hadar, and Ziva caught the other agent's reflection in the glass of a photo frame as he gave her father a faint nod. Well. She'd passed, at least.

The door closed loudly as Hadar left, and Eli moved around the desk to hug Ziva briefly. Then he returned to his seat. "You have fulfilled you task, daughter."

"Yes," she answered. Her voice was steady enough to persuade even herself of her pleasure.

He studied her. "Are you still troubled by your—by his betrayal?" Eli frowned slightly, as if gauging what Ari might have said to her before his death.

Ziva smiled without warmth. "It saddens me greatly that Ari I knew as a child was destroyed by the realities of his life. But the man I killed was no longer my brother." She actually believed this, and said it convincingly enough even for her father.

He nodded once. "Good. We will have a small funeral for him, as Mossad would hold for any agent fallen in the line of duty."

Ziva's mouth fell open, then she clamped it shut before her objections could get out.

"Better that the rumors of his turning traitor remain only that. Do not speak of this, Ziva."

As if she could. She nodded, accepting the command.

"As his control officer, you will attend." Eli glared Ziva to silence when her eyes flared in distress. "We will make it clear there was nothing you could have done; you need not fear sanction. We do not need to be as convincing of his innocence as that."

"Yes, father." It was the only thing Ziva could say.

"The preparations have been made. The funeral will be held tomorrow morning."

She nodded again, and left when she was dismissed.

xxx

Outside the building, night was already falling; she'd lost the better part of a day in the air. Ziva took the motorcycle she'd left here a week ago and headed home. Her apartment was cool and dim, and it felt like a lifetime ago that she'd left. Ziva crumpled almost at once onto her bed and slept. The familiarity of the place leant her the ease of denial, at least for one night.

In the morning, Ziva dug through her closet until she found exactly what she wanted. A simple black dress, more girlish than anything she'd bought in the meantime. A dress her mother had gotten her that she'd worn once, six years ago, for Tali's funeral. No one could possibly recognize it except her father, and he wouldn't dare mention Tali and Ari in the same sentence in front of anyone from Mossad.

Ziva slid the dress on, zipped it up. Her hand brushed the pocket and clenched over something inside. A handkerchief. Her heart clenched in her chest as she remembered Ari handing it to her surreptitiously as he passed her in the aisle in the synagogue. Now she hurled it at the pile of dirty laundry in the corner of the room. She would not cry for him today.

xxx

The funeral itself was a standard affair. Ziva had been to others like it over the years. Many of the highest level of operatives in Mossad got there because they had lost their families or had none to lose, and it often fell to the agency to make arrangements if they died.

The other agents who were in the area and not on critical missions milled around at the cemetery after the synagogue service, waiting for the last prayers to be said and murmuring kind words about Ari. Ziva could feel Mordecai's eyes on her, but she didn't meet them.

Until the moment that Eli stepped up beside the grave and cleared his throat, it did not occur to Ziva that he or some other assistant director usually spoke at these funerals. When she saw him she felt something begin to simmer inside of her. How could he?

Eli waved the assembled agents to silence. "Thank you all for coming. We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of a fallen compatriot, Ari Haswari. I want to share with you a moment that stands out to me from Ari's life, and then the rest of you may speak if you wish." He cleared his throat again. Everyone was silent.

"I first came to know Ari as a young man when he was on a team of agents under my direction in Gaza. We had a particular target, a man who was a teacher by day and a terrorist by night. Although was was the most junior among us, Ari protested every iteration of our plan until we came up with one where there was no chance of injury to the man's students. We argued that these children were really young men, had already been indoctrinated in his beliefs. Ari would hear none of it." His eyes searched the crowd, his gentle smile seeming to share his love for Ari. "He was a man who understood the value of human life and who stood up for it. It was an honor to know him."

Ziva stared at the ground. A lump had risen in her throat and she couldn't seem to swallow around it. The story was true, Ari had told it to her years ago. He'd told her other things too, about his exasperation with the team, but the gist of it was right. That was the man her brother had been, before their father destroyed him.

Sudden anger sent her heart pumping, flooded her limbs with warmth until Ziva was sure she looked feverish. Her father had driven Ari to insanity, to murderous rage. She had to breathe deep to contain her own fury at Eli.

xxx

As soon as the crowd began to slip away, Ziva was gone. She had seen the corpse; the casket would make Ari's death no more real.

In the car she began to hyperventilate. She needed to run, to get as far away from here as she could before Eli did anything worse to her. Killing her brother probably wasn't nearly the worst he could come up with.

Ziva was an hour up the coast before she even tried to think where she was going. Then she pulled over abruptly, sat panicked in her car. There was nowhere in Israel he couldn't find her.

She knew better than to run without a plan. She listed contacts in other countries in her head for several long minutes before settling on the one she already knew was the only real option.

Ziva drove a few more minutes into Haifa and went into a convenience store. Emerging with a cheap, untraceable cell phone, she dialed Jenny Shepard.

xxx

In Eli's office the next morning, Ziva was flawlessly disciplined, a perfect, unreadable soldier.

"I have received an interesting inquiry from the Americans," Eli said pensively, studying his daughter as she stood at attention. "It seems Director Shepard thought well of your talents in Europe and could use a friend in her organization."

Ziva nodded once.

"You agree?" he pressed.

She swallowed. "When I was in DC I spoke with her. She mentioned she was no longer close to many people in the city or the agency."

Eli tilted his head, salivating at the opportunity as Ziva and Jenny had known he would. "Would her agents trust you, though? They may not know the depth of your relationship with Ari, but perhaps they will have negative associations with Mossad after the death of their agent."

Ziva exhaled slowly, willing herself not to speak too quickly. "They told you Gibbs killed Ari, didn't they?"

Her father frowned. "Did he not?"

She shook her head, smiling a manipulative sort of smile she'd seen most often on Eli's face. "He is a man who lost a daughter; that was the card Ari played against him. Gibbs wanted to protect me, lied to do so when he had no reason to. _I_ killed Ari."

Eli shared her wicked grin.

"I could learn a lot there about their techniques," Ziva offered, as if she were not desperate for her father to agree.

It appealed to his sense of power, as she'd known it would. "Be sure she places you with Agent Gibbs, then," Eli ordered. "A man like that will surely be keeping other secrets for his agency after so many years of service."

Ziva's nostrils flared at her father's suggestion, but he missed the signal of her sudden anxiety. "I will," she said, her only affect a hint of pleasure.

Eli nodded thoughtfully as he studied his daughter for one last moment. "Of all the ways this could have gone," he said carelessly. "I am glad it has worked out so much in our favor."

She kept herself from shivering in disgust, in the need to run. "Yes, sir."

xxx

This time Ziva didn't board the plane with an overnight bag but with a suitcase. Still, it was a small one: everything she couldn't bear to leave behind. In the bottom, beneath clothing and a few books, was a picture frame carefully wrapped against the dangers of travel. It contained an old photo of three grinning children, two girls and a boy. If she could run anywhere she wanted, Ziva would run back to that moment, that happiness, but it was gone. In its absence, America seemed as good a place to try as any.

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